| Voice Over Internet Protocol or VOIP is a | | | | Reliability |
| buzzword has become a much debated topic of | | | | PSTN is considered to be more reliable than VOIP |
| late. Opinions vary from one to another; while | | | | as the latter depend on equipments which require |
| some feel this could be an economical alternative | | | | uninterrupted power supply for making phone calls |
| to the existing PSTN (Public Switched Telephone | | | | possible. Although incase of cordless phones, your |
| Network), others think it has too many | | | | PBX or phone based system may require |
| drawbacks and needs upgrading before it | | | | electricity, however, the phone lines themselves |
| becomes really useful to us. However, I am sure, | | | | do not required to be powered. Hence, you are |
| many of us would be wondering what this fuss is | | | | able to make calls even when there is no |
| all about. Let's talk a bit more about VOIP here. | | | | electricity. In case of VOIP, if you lose power, the |
| VOIP which is also known as Internet Telephony | | | | line goes down. Moreover, the quality of internet |
| revolves around Internet. It is an emerging | | | | connection also decides the quality of calls as well |
| technology which makes phone calls much | | | | - if the internet connection goes down, you will be |
| cheaper than ever before. Technically speaking, | | | | facing problems to make or receive calls. Further, |
| VOIP is a method that uses internet to make | | | | the transmission errors, viruses threats and hack |
| calls. So how does it work? Usually, in VOIP, voice | | | | attacks can considerably bring down the network |
| travels a packet-switched network i.e, internet | | | | which affect the calling experience. |
| wherein the voice signal is digitized and broken into | | | | Performance |
| small packets or portions that are sent through a | | | | Calls in VOIP are routed through PBX systems |
| series of routers until they reach the recipient. | | | | and hence, the quality of the PBX systems |
| Existing Drawbacks of VOIP | | | | decides the quality of the calling as well. Some |
| VOIP has been touted as an economical option | | | | users who have tried VOIP have negative |
| which, however, is subject to individual | | | | experience about its reliability. For instance, |
| interpretation. A few companies who have tried | | | | sometimes the users would pick up the phone to |
| this have thrown mixed response about its | | | | find no dial tone and they would have to reboot |
| performance. This technology is still in its nascent | | | | the VOIP box before making or receiving a call. |
| phase. Many people who have been using PSTN | | | | Similarly, other problems such as defective call ID |
| services still consider this as unreliable. So, | | | | reporting and much echo during the phone calls |
| basically, VOIP is facing to challenges - reliability | | | | have contributed the popular disapproval of the |
| and performance. | | | | VOIP as an alternative the existing PSTN system. |